


Terms of Endearment

by NB_Cecil



Series: Spones [10]
Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, Body Horror, Bones is trying to be cute but Spock is horrified, Cannibalistic Thoughts, Cultural Differences, Fluff, Horror, Horror Fantasies, Intrusive Thoughts, M/M, Medical Procedures, Misunderstandings, POV Spock (Star Trek), Vulcan Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24321451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NB_Cecil/pseuds/NB_Cecil
Summary: Some terms of endearment sit less easy with Spock than others.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock
Series: Spones [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563289
Comments: 15
Kudos: 65





	Terms of Endearment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VioletSmith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletSmith/gifts), [orchidlocked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orchidlocked/gifts), [all_new_wolverine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/all_new_wolverine/gifts).



> See end note for a spoilery content warning.

Spock could cope with _darlin’_. He liked it, even. It was simple. Logical. Just a term of endearment with no additional meaning beside conveying affection. _Sweetheart_ , though. That was different. Spock shuddered. Whenever Leonard called him “sweetheart”, Spock’s mind involuntarily presented him with images of Leonard cutting Spock’s heart out and consuming it.

His unbidden fantasies varied every time the term dropped from Leonard’s lips. Sometimes, Leonard would hold his pulsating heart in his fist, inclining his head toward Spock as if raising a toast, Spock’s blood oozing green down his wrist to stain the gold brocade on his cuff. Spock never could help wincing when Leonard bit into it with a squelch.

Other times, Leonard would place Spock’s heart on a plate and season it with salt and pepper before tucking a napkin into his collar and cutting off delicate forkfuls, commenting on the flavour as he chewed and swallowed each bite.

And occasionally, in Spock’s fantasy, Leonard’s organ consumption ritual reached elaborate excesses. He would carefully grind a chef’s knife on a whetstone until the edge gleamed sharp in the _Enterprise_ crew quarters’ harsh overhead lighting, place the heart on a butcher’s block and slice it finely. He would mince onion, garlic and a handful of fresh herbs, their aromatic scent catching sharp in Spock’s nostrils. And once the pan was hot on the stove, he would sautée the slivers of heart along with the vegetables and herbs, turning to Spock as he flipped the pieces over with a spatula to explain how the flavours of the herbs bring out the sweetness of the meat.

One element of Spock’s spontaneous fantasies was always consistent: the clinical precision with which Leonard removed his heart. _Illogical_ , Spock thought, _that I would remain conscious after the arteries and connective tissue between my heart and the rest of my body have been severed_ , and yet he always did. Whether Leonard greedily stuffed his warm, still-beating heart into his mouth or savoured it in some way, he would always don a pair of surgical gloves, stretching and snapping them over each hand, then, with an old-fashioned scalpel of the design commonly used on late-twentieth-century Earth, he would make careful incisions into Spock’s side, slicing through skin, fat and muscle, around bones and other major organs, exposing Spock’s heart and cutting expertly around it with all the competence of the highly skilled surgeon he was in reality.

Spock wished Leonard would stop calling him “sweetheart”. The images it conjured in his mind were too vivid, too real. But the way Leonard’s features always softened when he said it induced a feeling in Spock’s lower ribs like his heart was melting—unfortunate, given the images playing out in his mind’s eye. And, if they happened to be in physical contact at the time, the accompanying softening of the emotions pouring through that touch from Leonard’s mind to Spock’s had Spock walking with a spring in his step for hours afterwards. No, he didn’t want Leonard to stop using the term. Spock found that the juxtaposition of the horrific scenes supplied by his imagination with the vulnerability written all over Leonard’s face made the doctor’s momentary softness all the more appealing.

“Most human,” Spock admonished himself under his breath, shaking his head slightly as he turned back to the scanner. “To experience two conflicting emotions about a single word.”

**Author's Note:**

> Spock imagines some pretty gory details in this, so if body horror isn’t your thing, then best skip over this one.


End file.
